Tyler, The Creator Photographer Brick Stowell on Documenting the “Mystical” Lore of Odd Future and His Flog Gnaw Exhibit

A few weeks ago at Tyler, The Creator’s annual Flog Gnaw festival, while the rapper was looking to the future—performing his brand new album Chromakopia in full—elsewhere on the Dodger Stadium grounds fans could step inside a tent and be transported into his past.

The architect of this time machine was Brick Stowell. Tyler once famously approached Stowell on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles and asked him for the Supreme shirt on his back; Stowell agreed on the condition that Tyler and his boys come by his studio for a shoot. From that moment on, he served as Tyler and Odd Future’s main photographer during the height of their time as a collective featuring the likes of Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, Syd, Lionel Boyce—artists whose solo work has defined the last 10 years of music and culture. Odd Future’s heyday remains one of the most fondly remembered, achingly pined-for micro-eras in contemporary hip-hop, and on the occasion of Flog Gnaw’s tenth anniversary, Tyler and his manager Christian Clancy reached out to Stowell—who parted ways with the gang around 2016—to come back to the fold for a gallery show.

That initial idea morphed into a full-on exhibit called Almost Famous. Lucky festival attendees got to walk through a special space filled with rare photos but also 3D memorabilia, like Tyler’s bike from the Wolf album cover, international arrest records, seminal stage outfits, and even Tyler’s go-kart. Some of Brick’s photos have been collected into a coffee table book, Almost Famous, of the same name, currently for sale.

But in a phone interview with GQ the week after the festival, a newly reenergized Brick said what he’d put together so far was just the beginning. Below, Brick reflects on the reaction to the exhibit, his time with Odd Future, and why the group meant so much then and now.

Jasper and Tyler, The Creator.Courtesy of Brick Stowell

How are you feeling about the response during Flog Gnaw weekend?

Brick Stowell: Can I be fully transparent with you?

Please.

I mean, look, man, the weird part about it is I removed myself from the situation. And when I say I removed myself from the situation, around 2015 is when I had my daughter, and then I rocked it out for about another year and a half with them. And then I just… No weird things at all between me and Chris and Kelly [Clancy], or Tyler, or the band. It was just, like, the job is done.

So it’s like, I dipped out 2016 and then basically went into hibernation. I removed myself from socials. I wasn’t posting anything from that era. I was a manager at Jon and Vinny’s. And so, from 2016 to now, I’ve been sitting on this shit. And it’s literally just all been hella organized in all my negative sheets. All the fucking ephemera’s been organized in little folders and labeled all correctly, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Everything has been in these black cases in my house, and it’s just constantly traveled with me when I’ve moved over the last eight years.